Taking the next step toward growing our own fuel

Developing a petroleum-free fuel from corn byproducts is one of the goals of a newly named research theme at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Developing a petroleum-free fuel from corn byproducts is one of the goals of a newly named research theme at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Eight research laboratories will pool their expertise, attacking the problems from different directions to improve the efficiency of bioconversion of plant fibres into fuels and other value added products.

The new theme is the seventh to be chosen for the Institute for Genomic Biology under the direction of Harris A Lewin, Gutgsell Endowed Chair in the department of animal sciences. Although the building housing the IGB will not be completed until 2006, the work that will go on inside already has begun.

Lewin said that the new IGB research theme, led by Hans Blaschek, will address one of the most critical problems facing our nation. 'With crude oil at $50 per barrel, we must examine renewal sources of energy as a viable alternative to fossil fuels,' Lewin said. 'The vision and experience of Blaschek and his co-workers will be important in setting the national agenda for future research on renewable energy sources. Importantly, the outcomes of this research may have direct benefit to farmers and the agricultural industries of the Midwest. I am proud to have the new theme on Molecular Bioengineering of Biomass Conversion as part of the IGB's research, education and economic development portfolio.'

Blaschek is a microbiologist in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. He has been studying micro-organisms that are used in fermentation processes for over 20 years. He is striving to overcome the obstacles related to biomass conversion into value-added products. 'The beneficiaries of this research will be agriculture and agriculture-based industries in Illinois,' Blaschek said, 'but ultimately all of us will benefit as consumers of energy.'

He believes that renewable fuel made from corn is the direction we need to go in order to be free from our dependence on petroleum products. This program will focus on an integrated multidisciplinary approach towards replacing the petroleum-based economy with a bio-based economy that uses agricultural crops as the platform. 'The US has access to significant amounts of bio-based resources, including those of the highly productive corn/soybean cropping system in the Midwest - arguably the largest man-made ecosystem on the planet,' Blaschek said. 'This agro-ecosystem is still largely focused on providing raw materials for the food, feed and fiber industries and not on chemicals and fuels.'

This research, he added, will help to change that focus and provide the need for an additional 200 million bushels of corn for the production of butanol and acetone alone. 'The boom in construction of dry-mill based ethanol plants that has tripled the production of ethanol in a five-year period is evidence of the bio-based opportunities in this area,' he said.